Venezuela and the Dominican Republic faced off in Caribbean Series pool play, with both teams already locked into the one and two seeds. While the standings wouldn’t change, players brought a lot of energy and pride to the field. Venezuela was leading late, but things got messy in the eighth. The Dominican Republic hit a big double, then pinch-ran and bunted to get the tying run to third. That’s when controversy hit. The runner was called safe at third, but replays clearly showed his foot never touched the bag due to the third baseman’s block. Players asked for a review, but it’s unclear what happened. Some thought they ran out of time to challenge. Others claimed it was reviewed and upheld as interference. The broadcast was in Spanish, and the rules for this tournament aren’t publicly clear. Comment sections were full of conflicting explanations.
Despite the confusion, play continued. Willians Astudillo, aka La Tortuga, tried to get clarification from the ump but didn’t get far. The inning ended with a big tag-out play, then a sac fly brought the tying run home—the same controversial runner from earlier. In the tenth, the Dominican Republic loaded the bases and used another sac fly to walk off with the win. Even though the result didn’t affect the pool standings, it was a tight game with solid baseball and plenty of drama.